Shinpaku Alliance
The Shinpaku Alliance is a fighter group created by Haruo Niijima in order to gain power and facilitate his goal of world domination. The alliance is first introduced in episode 21 of the anime when Niijima comes to Kenichi's rescue in his fight against Kisara's group. It is formed by a motley crew of individuals: from refined martial artists seeking powerful opponents to expand their scope of experience to loyal pawns whose loyalty was garnered by a leader (Nijima) adept at fabrication. Non fighters are trained by Nijima for information gathering. The organization itself has a signature gesture, which is done with the right arm performing a spinning motion at the front and then stops with the fingers outstretched and palm facing outward and the little pinky finger seperated from the rest of the fingers, similar in manner to the Hitler salute in Nazi Germany and the Klingon salute in Star Trek. It is interesting to note that, as of the current time, the Alliance is comprised mostly of students from Kouryou high and converted ex-members from Ragnarok. The group is led by Niijima Haruo who supervises the activities of the group. Notable Shinpaku members include Shirahama Kenichi (honorary captain), Natsu Tanimoto (Hermit), Ikki Takeda, Kaname Kugatachi (Freya), Hibiki Kugenin (Siegfried), Yuma Chiaki (Thor), Nanjo Kisara (Valkyrie) and Kozo Ukita. Miu Fūrinji wasn't an official member of the alliance (Kenichi was unaware that he had never invited her to a meeting) and would only appear when it needed help before four YOMI members transfer to the school. Yami and YOMI consider the Shinpaku Alliance as part of Ryōzanpaku. Commanders The top-ranked commanding officers of the organization, and as such, have full influence upon the organization, from the captains to the rank and files. The commanders, Nijima and Kenichi, have an antagonistically friendly relationship in that they see each other as "bad friends", with the latter being uncomfortable with Nijima's antics. Likewise, Nijima is often un-nerved when he gets up-close with one of Kenichi's personal battles. Nonetheless, the two of them perform well in what they do, with Nijima acting as the mastermind of the Alliance and Kenichi providing the brawn with his martial art skills. The two get along rather well despite the fact that they sometimes step on each other (both literally and metaphorically) from time to time. Captains The Captains are ranked as the Alliance's most capable fighters, besides Kenichi, and thus in lead of the Alliance's activities right after Nijima. A majority of them were former Ragnarok members until the said organization broke up and Nijima started recruiting (and succeeded at doing so) some of their more capable members for his cause. Only Ukita is given the rank of Vice-Captain as he is regarded as not nearly as powerful as the others in terms of combat ability, but is a combatant no less. Plot Outline Since its initial introduction as the fighter group Niishira, derived from the family names of Nii'jima and '''Shira'hama, Niijima has actively recruited members for the alliance and is successful in convincing a number of ex-Ragnarok members to join the alliance. Following Odin's defeat and the subsequent dissolution of Ragnarok, Shinpaku Alliance is able to cement its reputation as the strongest fighter group in town. Upon its introduction, the Alliance initially made use of Kouryou High's Physics Laboratory as its temporary make-shift base, often superimposing the Alliance's name over the lab's sign, but as the organization grew and assimilated former members of Ragnarok, it uses Kisara's former base as its own. Niijima filled it with traps in case on an invasion and even built a gym for the fighters to train. As of Chapter 200, the Shinpaku Alliance had introduced its official symbol, which was somewhat inspired by the Starbucks emblem (or possibly the Laughing Man Logo from Ghost in the Shell franchise) and its website. After the D of D Tournament Niijima officially rented the building by telling Kisara's dad that they were trying to save her from the world of delinquents. It was single-handedly financed by Siegfried while Niijima completely restored the building. The new building has the Alliance logo on the outside, the name on the entrance, and a brand new gym on the inside. In the YOMI arc, the Shinpaku Alliance participates in the DofD Tournament and manages to reach the final round of the "Chi" group. However, due to the injuries sustained by its core fighter members throughout the tournament and their final opponent being none other than the fearsome Sho Kano himself, Niijima forfeits the match. When Fortuna's island was being attacked, Fortuna was blocking their escape, since he wanted all the captains (except Ukita) as his children. They were all outmatched at first with the difference of power with Fortuna being at master class and all their injuries, but when Hermit arrived, Nijima was able to devise a plan to defeat Fortuna with their combined power. When the Valkyries told the Shinpaku Alliance that Freya and her grandfather, Danki Kugatachi, were captured by Yami's weapons division, the Captains (accompanied by Shigure) went to rescue her. Except for Ukita and Nijima (the latter was just dodging), they easily overwhelmed the thugs after Kenichi took down the first one. After Freya and her grandfather were rescued, the latter wrote a letter complementing the Shinpaku Alliance that they convinced him to pick up his staff once more to fight for justice by attacking a master class weapon user of Yami. The Shinpaku Alliance followed Ryozanpaku to Okinawa to help Kenichi in his fight against Yami's weapons division. Ryozanpaku left the disciples (except for Kenichi, Miu, and Nijima who the latter had been taken accidentally by Apachi) back at the hotel scouting for Yami unaware that everyone else is invading the Okinawa base to stop Yami Armed Division. When Kenichi returned to school with Miu, he explained to Nijima, Takeda, Ukita, and Kisara that Ryozanpaku was wanted by the police, which is now being controlled by the Pro-Yami faction of the government. With Chikage, they went to Inspector Honmaki's house for info about Yami. However, they found him attacked by armed members of Yami. After the battle, Inspector Honmaki told them to leave before they would arrested for attacking Yami members. They were watched over by Rimi, who was impressed by their skills. In a forest, they tried to get the evidence to Ishida only to ambushed by some Yami weapon users. During the fight, Rimi managed to steal the CD from Nijima so Miu had to follow her. The others were having a hard time until Siegfried and Freya arrived from parachute to even the odds and helped defeat them. Thor came down to help Miu by accident when he landed far from the others, because of his fear. Unfortunately, Thor accidentally broke the CD during the fight having Rimi retreat. Luckily, Nijima had the real evidence in a jump drive only for it to be destroyed by the "hostage", Ishida. The Shimpaku Alliance was about to go into a losing battle until Sakaki arrived and defeated Ishida. Nijima then revealed to Ishida that the evidence was already scattered throughout the internet clearing Ryozanpaku's name. Sakaki then congratulated the disciples for their improved skills. Members Trivia *Shinpaku Alliance's main website, as seen in Battle 200, is http://m-bros.net/~shinpaku/. It was mentioned to have had at least 200,000 visits. *The Alliance derives its name from 'Shi'rahama, 'N'iijima and Ryōzan'''paku. *Most members of the Alliance attend the same high school together and half of them were members of Ragnarok. Category:Groups and Organizations Category:Shinpaku Alliance Category:Katsujinken Category:History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi character